Today the lovely and talented Juliana Stone takes up our round robin adventure.

(Round Robin Part One by Cynthia Eden)

(Round Robin Part Two by Shelli Stevens)

Paranormal Round Robin: Part 3

by: Juliana Stone

They dressed in silence.

Modesty had found Karen and she kept her back to him, though the mirror to her left allowed study as he rooted through his bag for an extra pair of jeans.

Why was it that the most attractive men were also the biggest assholes?  Why did she have to go and marry the bastard?  Couldn’t the bed breaking sex have been enough?

Oh yeah, the wolf blood infused drink.  Nice. She gritted her teeth.  He was so going to pay for that.

She tightened her belt and slipped denim clad legs into kick ass boots.  An image of her foot, planted firmly against his butt made her smile, if only for a second. Once her leather coat was in place she arched a brow and sneered.  “So where we headed?”

Jon slipped a black t-shirt over his head, grabbed his bag and smiled.  “Black Magick.”

Karen’s eyes widened.  “Seriously.” It wasn’t a question, so much as a statement.

Jon opened the door and stood back, motioning with his hand.  “After you.”

If looks could kill the werewolf would be a toasty mess of burning fur.  Fuck.  She’d not seen that coming.

Karen slipped past him, face blank, while inside her mind was freaking out.  How the hell had she gotten herself into this stinking crap situation?  She’d not pulled such a newbie boner since she’d swapped spit with wolf boy Caleb Nelson at her high school prom.

And that had turned into a fucking fiasco, resulting in murder, mayhem and her ass grounded for months.  Christ would she never learn?

Twenty minutes later she was behind the wheel of her sleek, black, Porsche and they pulled out of valet parking, slipping into the throng of traffic that clogged Las Vegas’s strip.   She was aware that Jon kept his piece—a modified glock—close to his heart.  It was in a holster beneath his leather jacket.

Motely Crue blasted from the speakers and he snorted.  “Really?”

“Hey,” she snapped, “the 80’s might have been before my time but the music rocked.”  She increased the volume and smiled to herself as they roared down the strip.  Shout at the Devil, indeed.

“So,” she began, licking her lips as a frown furrowed between her eyebrows.  “You targeted me.”  She glanced toward him—big mistake.  His dark eyes were settled on her in a way that screamed possession.

Karen jerked her head back and gazed at the road ahead.  It was bumper to bumper.  Shit, this could take awhile—not that she was in any hurry to get to Black Magick.  Her gut tightened at the thought.

“I didn’t target you per say.”

Why the hell did his voice sound like aged whiskey poured over cool ice?  Totally wasn’t fair.

“Oh?  What exactly is your, um, per say.”  Good.  She sounded calm. Neutral.  Slightly sarcastic.

“I work for Del Degatto.”

Okay, that’s not what she’d wanted to hear.  Karen’s fingers gripped the wheel tightly, so much so, her knuckles were white.  Her breath hitched at the back of her throat and for a second she was afraid she’d choke.

She exhaled a ragged breath, caught sight of her face in the mirror and winced.  She looked like a weak kneed, wet behind the ears, scared out her mind newbie.

Damn but she needed to keep it together.

“Degatto know you put your mark on me?” Anger erupted inside her chest.  “Was that his plan all along?”  Her eyes flashed as she snarled the words.  “Screw the hunter and then really screw her over?”

“No.” He answered tersely.

She snorted.  “What’s he going to say when he finds out we’re mated, you and I?”

Karen paused, angry and curious.  “Why did you do it?”  They were stopped at a traffic light, surrounded on all sides by people, cars and noise.  “You didn’t have to bite me.  Hell, you’d already screwed me over, and then some.  Why the claiming?  Was it some nasty ass joke?”

Jon growled. The air around him shimmered and his wolf shifted beneath his skin. His handsome face was tense.  The shifter was on edge.

“Claiming for a wolf is never a joke.”  His eyes narrowed and he ran his hand through the shaggy mane of hair at his nape.

Traffic started to move.   Ahead Black Magick, taunted. It was the newest casino on the strip and one she’d vowed never to enter.  She had minutes to formulate a plan.

A spot opened and she changed lanes, her eyes ahead, focused.  She saw her chance and took it, accelerating to top speed in seconds.  The car jumped the curb, narrowly missing a pack of tourists—their pasty white legs were a dead giveaway.  They crashed into a large cement structure and then there was silence.

“What the fuck?” Stunned, Jon turned to her but Karen was out of her seat, her hands clutching a mini crossbow that had been hidden beneath her seat.

Time slowed down and did that weird slow motion thing as she sailed over the hood of the car, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the wolf’s hand.  She pressed the trigger, letting rip a barrage of small silver arrows.

She landed in a crouch, ignoring the howl of pain that erupted from Jon.  The radio blasted suddenly.  Karen was up in an instant.  She was running for her life, but spared a smile as the heavy beat of The Crue followed in her wake.  Kickstart my Heart.

She hazarded a glance back and felt her mouth go dry at the fury that laced Jon’s dark eyes.  She turned and raced past Black Magick, flipping the bird at the security cameras as she did so.

“Kickstart that, assholes.”

***

Tune in tomorrow as Jess Granger takes up the Bad Moon Rising adventure! And have a great Friday!

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 29th, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under Romance. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.